The Heartbreaking Mystery of Justine Vanderschoot

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It was the second of September two
thousand and three when Lynette Vanderschute first began

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to realize that her daughter was missing. There was no sign of seventeen year

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old Justine in the family home,
and when Lonette looked outside, she discovered

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that Justine's truck was also missing.
At first, she wasn't too concerned,

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thinking that her daughter had probably just
gone to visit a friend or her boyfriend.

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Shortly after seeing the truck was Gonelynette
tried to call Justine, but there

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was no answer. Later that Daylynette
received a phone call from a different person,

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seventeen year old Danny Bezmer, who
was dating Justine and had spent time

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with her the previous day. However, just like Lynette, Danny hadn't seen

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Justine or heard from her that day. In fact, the reason he was

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calling was to ask if she had
any idea where Justine had gone. Immediately,

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at that point, Linette began to
worry. It wasn't like Justine to

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spend the day out of the house
without telling family or Danny where she was

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going. Linnette called her husband,
her other daughter, and several of Justine's

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friends, hoping that one of them
would know where she was, but all

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of them said the same thing.
They had no idea. Beginning to Paniclynette

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and her husband Don went to the
sheriff's department to report Justine as missing.

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After the sheriff spoke to Justine's older
sister, Christine Vanderschut, they doubted that

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they were dealing with the case of
a runaway team. Justine didn't have personal

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issues or difficulties with her family.
According to Christine, who had called her

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sister the previous night, their phone
conversation had been completely normal. Danny told

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investigators the same thing, he had
seen Justine last night, and everything seemed

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to be just fine. He'd gone
over to the Vanderschute house, spent some

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time with Justine, and then had
driven home alone. From the very beginning

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of the investigation, the case was
taken seriously and investigators considered the possibility that

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someone kidnapped Justine. It was evident, said Sheriff Edward Bonner, that this

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was not your typical runaway. Everyone
started to think was she snatched. Teams

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of volunteers started to post missing person
flyers around the area, and Justine's family

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painstakingly drove along nearby roads wondering if
Justine had gotten into a car crash.

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However, there was no sign of
her or her vehicle. On the third

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of September, the day after Justine
was reported missing, the investigation took a

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sudden turn when her missing truck was
located only a couple of miles away from

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the Vanderschute house. It had been
left in a park and ride lot,

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parked and locked, with no sign
of the keys. The truck was thoroughly

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searched, but there were no clues
in or around it. It was like

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Justine had just decided to park in
this random parking lot, get out of

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her truck, and disappear into thin
air. Several more days went by and

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there was no sign of Justine and
no more leads. Justine's family and friends

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began to worry that the case was
going cold and decided to have a vigil

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at the spot where her truck had
been found. Many members of the local

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community came by to show their support, and investigators took the opportunity to do

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the one thing that they do at
these viguals that many people don't realize that

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they are doing. They watch the
people who attend the vigil and see if

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any of them act suspiciously. They
know that it's common for kidnappers or killers

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to attend vigils, funerals, and
search parties for their victims, and at

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this point they were beginning to suspect
that Justine Vanderschut was no longer alive.

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Out of all the people at the
vigil, one stood out. There was

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a man that Justine's family did not
recognize, who seemed very distressed, smoking

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a cigarette and pacing around the park
and ride lot. When the police spoke

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to the man, he introduced himself, explaining that one of his own daughters

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had passed away as a teenager,
leading him to feel a connection to Justine's

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case. He decided to come to
the vigil and leave a plaque in his

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own daughter's memory, as well as
show his support to the Vanderschute family.

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That man was telling the true and
he never became a suspect in the case.

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By September thirteenth, Justine had been
missing almost two weeks, and investigators

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decided to dive deeper into her relationships
with her friends, hoping that they would

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be able to uncover some more clues. During these conversations with Justine's friends,

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a new piece of information was revealed. Justine's relationship with her boyfriend Danny wasn't

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as unproblematic and sweet as it first
appeared. In fact, they had been

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going through a rough patch as of
late, and during spring break, Justine

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had gone to Florida and met another
boy. Investigators were able to track down

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the second boy and interviewed him,
but discovered that there had been no communication

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between him and Justine since August.
There was no reason to suspect that he'd

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had anything to do with her disappearance, and he was ruled out as a

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suspect. However, investigators did begin
to examine Justine and Danny's relationship more closely.

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If he had found out that Justine
had cheated on him, maybe he

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had a motive to hurt her after
all. In the initial police interviews,

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Danny hadn't come across as suspicious.
Danny shared that as soon as he became

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aware that Justine's family had not heard
from her, he'd started searching for his

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girlfriend, going to her workplace and
her school to see if anyone had seen

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her. Investigators had been able to
confirm his story. Danny had also been

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upfront about visiting Justine the night before
she disappeared, and was able to prove

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that he had gone home alone.
He'd gone to seven eleven during his drive

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home to buy a drink, and
police once again confirmed his story. He

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also had an alibi for the rest
of the night. After going to the

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seven eleven, he had gone back
to the apartment that he shared with his

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roommate, twenty year old Brandon Fernandez. Brandon confirmed that he and Danny had

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been in the apartment for the rest
of that night and neither of them left.

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However, once investigator started to look
more closely at Danny, they also

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became aware that Justine had not gotten
along with his roommate Brandon because she found

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out that he was cheating on his
girlfriend. It turned out that Danny and

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Brandon's alibi wasn't actually air tight.
Instead of spending time at their apartment alone,

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they'd been with two other friends.
When the additional two friends were interviewed,

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they initially tried to back up Danny
and Brandon's alibi, but their story

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quickly fell apart, and one of
them, a young man named Clayton,

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agreed to help the cops. Clayton
called Brandon, telling him that he thought

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he should go to the police about
what he knew. Brandon was quick to

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reply saying, quote, no,
don't go talk to the police. Stick

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to the plan. The whole conversation
was recorded by the police. Now knowing

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that Brandon wasn't telling them the whole
truth, the police contacted a profiler from

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the FBI to help help them reinterview
Brandon and Justine's boyfriend, Danny. The

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FBI profiler used different techniques to interview
Brandon, eventually asking him have you ever

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seen anyone die? The question shook
Brandon up, and the FBI profiler immediately

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played the recording of the incriminating phone
conversation. Finally, Brandon admitted the truth.

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He'd tapped Justine's phone to prove that
she was cheating on Danny, and

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then the two of them had decided
to punish her. They had convinced Justine

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to come for a ride in Brandon's
car, and then they played a mixtape

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which wasn't filled with sentimental love songs. It was actually a recording of her

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phone conversations with the boy that she
was cheating on Danny with. Finally,

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they'd parked in an isolated area where
Danny zapped Justine with a taser and then

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strangled her. Brandon agreed to lead
investigators to the site where he and Danny

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disposed of Justine. Taking them to
a spot on the hillside, the police

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found Justine's necklace lying on the ground, as well as a patch of disturbed

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ground that looked as if somebody had
recently dug and then filled in a hole.

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In the morning, investigators carefully unearthed
the contents of the hole. They

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found Justine's body covered in a thick
tar like substance. Brandon and Danny dug

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a grave for Justine, and then
they had poured the tar like liquid onto

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her, hoping that it would help
to decompose her body faster so that she

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couldn't be identified. Then they'd filled
in the hole with the dirt, as

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well as covering with an old mattress. However, Justine's autopsy revealed that Brandon

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and Danny had been wrong about one
thing. They had not actually killed her

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before burying her. Her throats and
digestive system were full of dirt from the

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grave. She had been buried alive. Although Annie insisted that Brandon had been

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the one to strangle Justine, both
men admitted to digging the grave and burying

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her, which was ultimately the cause
of her death. Both killers were charged

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with murder, and there was plenty
of evidence to show that it was premeditated.

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Brandon sentence was fifteen years to life
and Danny's was twenty five years to

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life. Both men have tried to
apply for parole, but each time the

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requests were denied. That's ten Minute
Murder for today brief and bingeable True crime.

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